VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

VOINews, Jakarta - Indonesia, which is chairing the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) this year, is collaborating with the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA) to strengthen the digital economy in the region.

As a concrete collaboration, the two parties have launched a virtual platform called Digital Innovation and Sustainable Economy Center (DISC), which will serve as a medium for harboring ideas and innovations for developing the digital economy in ASEAN countries.

"This (DISC) constitutes one of Indonesia's flagship measures to carry out digitalization with the objective of promoting inclusive financial (systems) and developing as well as empowering small and medium enterprises," Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto said in Jakarta on Thursday.

During a symposium themed "Digital Economy and Sustainability," the minister expressed the belief that the optimization of DISC will help his ministry to develop and support Indonesia's talents in the digital economy and develop a special economic zone in Batam city, Riau Islands province.

"Indonesia is also pushing for the establishment of a number of co-working spaces that can facilitate youths to prepare for running their businesses in an ecosystem we are about to create," he added.

The minister then cited 2022 data, which showed that Indonesia had cornered as much as 40 percent of the ASEAN's digital economy market. The country's digital economy value is projected to reach US$400 billion by 2030, he noted.

Indonesia will strive to finalize and optimize the ASEAN Digital Economy Framework Agreement (DEFA) to reach the projected figure.

The gross merchandise value (GMV) of online commerce in ASEAN reached US$194 billion in 2022, an increase of 90 percent compared to 2019.

"Indonesia's GMV is recorded at US$70 billion and will reach US$150 billion by 2025. It should also be noted that ASEAN is home to over 4,500 start-up companies, with about 2 thousand of them based in Indonesia," he noted.

On the same occasion, ERIA president Tetsuya Watanabe said that his side and the Indonesian government aim to make DISC a sustainable platform that can help ASEAN countries develop their digital economy.

"The launching of DISC marks an important milestone in the journey of ASEAN toward a digitally empowered future," he added. (Antaranews)